Pubdate: Wed, 29 May 2002
Source: Telegraph (NH)
Copyright: 2002 Telegraph Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.nashuatelegraph.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/885

DRUG SMUGGLING IS UP ACROSS U.S.-CANADA BORDER

BERKSHIRE, Vt. (AP) -- From a farm field about 10 feet from the Canadian 
border, State Police Sgt. Tom Hango looks through an apple orchard at cars 
on a back road in Quebec.

The rolling farmland separated into two countries by a slash in the trees 
is called "apple alley" by drug smugglers.

Protecting the border is the job of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization 
Service, which includes the Border Patrol, and the U.S. Customs Service.

But since Sept. 11, Hango and other Vermont troopers have been making a 
habit of driving there, especially at night, looking for anything out of 
place. Hango is not deterred by the odds against finding anything.

"We'll do what we can to protect our state and our country," he said.

Hango is one of countless state, provincial and local law enforcement 
officials on both sides of the U.S-Canadian border who have been paying 
closer attention since the terrorist attacks.

No terrorist-or terrorism-related arrests have been announced, but there 
have been other payoffs. The number of illegal border crossings is down 
sharply, and drug seizures and arrests are way up.

 From October to April, the number of illegal border-crossers dropped 34 
percent compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the U.S. 
Immigration and Naturalization Service. The agency says the drop occurred 
on both the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Heightened vigilance is believed to be at least partly responsible.

"There is definitely an increased, visible presence on the border," said 
immigration spokeswoman Amy Otten. "That word gets out among the people who 
might try to get through illegally. But we really don't know because we 
aren't talking to people who aren't coming."

Smugglers undoubtedly drew lessons from the case of Lucia Garofalo, a 
Montreal resident arrested at Beecher Falls in December 1999. Authorities 
originally suspected her of playing a role in a foiled plot to blow up the 
Los Angeles airport as 2000 dawned, but changed their minds and released 
her in spring 2002.

Officials believe increased vigilance also helps explain the surge in drug 
arrests on the border, but, again, no one can say for sure.
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